SANA, Yemen — In his first interview since the Yemeni government collapsed, the leader of the Houthi militants who control Sana, the capital, depicted his movement as eager to share power with its rivals and to reach out to the country’s traditional allies, including the United States and Saudi Arabia — even as the American Embassy prepared to shut down.

Saleh Ali al-Sammad, the senior Houthi leader in Sana, made the remarks as a new round of United Nations-mediated talks among the Houthis and other major political parties to try to form a government entered a second day. Yemen has been leaderless since the president and his cabinet resigned on Jan. 22, citing Houthi pressure and attacks.

Late Tuesday, Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman, said that because of the “uncertain security situation in Sana, we have suspended our embassy operation, and our embassy staff has been temporarily relocated out of Sana.”

By Wednesday morning, the embassy had closed and all diplomats and staff were gone, an embassy official said.

A State Department Twitter posting urged Americans to avoid traveling to Yemen and “those U.S. citizens currently living in Yemen to depart.”

The closing made Yemen the third Middle Eastern country with no American embassy, after Syria and Libya.

The seizure of the capital by the Houthis, who are believed to be financed by Iran, threatened to further destabilize Yemen, a significant American ally in the fight against Al Qaeda, and threw into question United States counterterrorism operations there. The previous government, led by Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, supported American drone strikes against Al Qaeda, while the Houthis oppose them, raising fears that Al Qaeda will take advantage of the political turmoil.

Mr. Sammad’s remarks, and his unusual willingness to be interviewed by an American news organization, suggested that the Houthis were anxious to climb down from the position they took on Friday, when they declared a unilateral plan for forming a new government.

Mr. Sammad indicated that the constitutional declaration was not open for discussion, but said, referring to the Houthis’ governance plan, “All the details are open to negotiation.” That plan called for their revolutionary committees to choose a national council to replace Parliament. The national council would then choose a five-member presidential council to govern the country. The 551-member national council could include current members of Parliament, who number about 300, with the balance going to the Houthis, the southern Herak movement, small parties and women’s groups, none of which are represented in the current Parliament, he said.

“It is now being negotiated, and most of the parties are ready to accept it,” Mr. Sammad said of the plan, a claim that was optimistic, given statements from other political groups.

“Ansar Allah does not want anything more than partnership, not control,” Mr. Sammad said, using the formal name of the Houthis’ movement. “This was not a coup.”

Mr. Sammad took pains to say that the Houthis wanted normal relations with the United States and other countries. No diplomats have been harmed since September, when the Houthis took over security operations in Sana, he said, adding, “We are not against the missions or individuals themselves, but against policies adopted by America.”

However, an attack on an American Embassy car on Jan. 19 at a Houthi roadblock was far worse than previously known, according to a Western diplomat who was briefed on the attack and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities. He said the armored car had been hit with 87 rounds of automatic weapons fire, but the vehicle’s armor withstood the onslaught, and those inside, including two diplomats, were able to escape to safety. “The Americans are furious,” he said. A 2012 attack on an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, killed four staff members, including the ambassador.

An attack on the American Embassy in Sana by Al Qaeda in 2008 killed 19 people, one of them an American. The Houthis, however, are anti-Qaeda and have driven the extremists from the areas they control. Sana has been relatively quiet in recent days, with no serious unrest or fighting.

Mr. Sammad said the Houthis had had no choice but to declare a governing formula to force the other parties to negotiate. “We felt the opposition wanted to waste time so that any chaos could be blamed on us,” he said.

Mr. Hadi had appointed Mr. Sammad as his presidential adviser when the Houthis seized the capital in September. Mr. Sammad is viewed as second in political importance to the Houthis’ top leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who rarely leaves his northern stronghold of Saada.

The talks between the Houthis and other parties got off to a rocky start on Monday when two of the parties pulled out, complaining of threats from one of the Houthi negotiators. One of those, the important Islah party, a Sunni Islamist group, rejoined the talks on Tuesday, party officials confirmed.

Mr. Sammad said Mr. Hadi could not be restored to power because he had resigned of his own will. Aides to Mr. Hadi, as well as other government officials, have said he remains under house arrest. Mr. Sammad said Houthi officials were guarding him for his own safety, including protecting him from militants of Al Qaeda who might want to retaliate against him because of his support for the United States.

“It is for his own protection,” Mr. Sammad said. “But he is free to receive visitors, and diplomats have been able to see him.”

Mr. Sammad also said the Houthis wanted a Yemen with good relationships with the United States and other countries, provided that its sovereignty was respected. The militants’ slogan, which is chanted at rallies and painted on walls in Sana, includes the phrase “Death to America.”

“It’s not meant to suggest harming American people,” Mr. Sammad said. “This is just a slogan.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Yemeni Militant Leader Pledges to Share Power. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe